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Christmas Time

Mark Fisher

New Member
This is my first post on Ex Scientology Message Board.

This Christmas season, I was reminded of an earlier Christmas that I spent years ago.

1982 was the year to be exact and I had been sent to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) in LA at the Complex about a month or so earlier.

The RPF is the Sea Org prison camp in Scientology for Sea Org members who “mess up on the job” or who “ are disaffected” meaning not in agreement with what management or a senior executive is doing.

“Disaffection”. That was my crime.

I had been assigned as a jury member on a Committee of Evidence for RTC. The biggest Committee of Evidence of all time in Sea Org history. The justice action against David Mayo (Senior Case Supervisor International), Kerry Gleeson (Executive Director International) and about a dozen other senior executives and technical people in senior management positions for Scientology.

These people were being railroaded at the hands of David Miscavige based on false reports and information sent up to LRH by DM. Based on those reports, these Senior Executives were considered enemies of Scientology and they were to receive a Committee of Evidence and then they would be offloaded from the Sea Org and many of them declared Suppressive Persons.

However I did not agree with the evidence being presented against some of these executives and disagreed with what was happening to them. I couldn’t keep these disagreements hidden, and they came up in my Scientology processing sessions.

Because of these disagreements, I was considered “disaffected” and therefore removed from the jury and from my position and sent off the Int Base to the RPF in LA to be “rehabilitated”.

The RPF as many of you know is basically a “re-education camp” for Sea Org members. RPFers are subjected to tough discipline and do manual labor most of the day, while also getting re-educated in Scientology technology and made to come clean on any crimes or transgressions against LRH or Scientology.

RPFers cannot speak unless spoken to, have to run everywhere they go, sleep in the worst berthing spaces, eat the left over food after the regular crew have finished eating and must wear black clothing to designate their status.

In effect, you are in prison. There are security watches at night so that you don’t try to leave. The RPF program in 1982/1983 usually took about 5 to 6 months to complete and graduate so that the Sea Org member could be a regular crew member again to work in a regular position in Scientology. Over the years however, that time has been extended to YEARS based on arbitraries put into affect by David Miscavige.

However, whether you are in for a short time or long time, being imprisoned has a negative affect on someone that can last a lifetime.

Christmas 1982, I was in the RPF along with close to 100 others. Due to the actions of one person – the Commanding Officer of the Western US, we were able to enjoy Christmas Day as a regular person again.

All RPFers were allowed to spend Christmas Day with their children and families in the LA area. Anyone without a family could go off and enjoy the Christmas holiday together with other single RPFers.

I remember it like it was almost yesterday. We all got changed out of our old black t-shirts and pants and got dressed in normal everyday clothes. A group of us went to Hollywood Boulevard and saw the movie “Tootsie” with Dustin Hoffman and then went over to an Italian Restaurant on Vermont Avenue and had dinner together before returning to the Complex.

We felt like free men and women again! It gave us hope, a powerful thing.

The next day, we were back to our restrictions and RPF rules and, when DM and International Management people found out about the RPFers having time off for Christmas, the Commanding Officer Western US was soon assigned to the RPF to join us.

Years later, the movie Shawshank Redemption was released. To this day, it is one of my all time favorite movies and the scene below reminds me of that Christmas back in 1982 and still brings tears to my eyes when I watch it.

We were free men and women for a few hours again! Hope is a powerful thing!

It would take a few years more before I took the final step and left Sea Org for good and thank goodness I got away when I could. To all those OSA lurkers, there is still hope out there for you! You can get away if you try!

This movie scene really touches my heart. Click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4oPFXWXaDE

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Mark Fisher
 

AnonyMary

Formerly Fooled - Finally Free
Mark, that is so touching.... May the next Christmas be a merrier one for those still trapped in the RPF.

Funny how I was just looking at a transcript of the order for that comm ev yesterday over at www.holysmoke.org. I saw your name and Mat Pesch assigned as members. I planned to ask you both your opinion on it now that you've been out all these years. So nice to see you mention it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too!!

Mary McConnell
 

Tim Skog

Silver Meritorious Patron
Hi Mark and welcome to ESMB. That's a touching story especially the part about the CO WUS getting assigned to the RPF for being kind. No good deed goes unpunished as the saying goes.
 

Sharone Stainforth

Silver Meritorious Patron
Hello Mark,

That is a very touching story about the RPFers.

The Shawshank Redemption always brings tears to my eyes, I have seen it several times. Hope is a very powerful thing, especially if you think there isn't any.

It can do wonders to boost moral.

Happy New Year!
 

Cherished

Silver Meritorious Patron
Hi Mark. I add my welcome.

Removing a juror because they disagreed with the stipulated outcome - boy, that makes me fume. That is tyranny.

I'm glad you made it out and I'm glad that DM has so very many months (not years) to anxiously contemplate what's going to happen to him when a real justice system gets hold of him.

Merry Christmas, Mark.
 

Mark Fisher

New Member
Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome! I look forward to sharing more stories and my opinions in the new year!

Happy New Year!
 

NeXTep

Patron with Honors
Welcome aboard Mark.

A very intereting story and an exceptional experiment by the then CO West US.

Guess that none of the RPFers went missing during that day off, or am I wrong here?
 

Opter

Silver Meritorious Patron
Welcome to ESMB Mark.

This movie is one of my favorites too. Every time it is on TV I watch it again.

Happy new year to you.

Waiting for more of your stories in the new year.

Opter
 

Kutta

Silver Meritorious Patron
Welcome Mark. It gave me a warm tingly sad-happy feeling thinking of you RPFers being free on that xmas day.
 

AngeloV

Gold Meritorious Patron
Hi Mark. Welcome. You'll find lots of 'disaffected' folks here just like you. Looking forward to some of your stories.
 

smartone

My Own Boss
Welcome Mark and thanks for sharing your story! The more I hear about Davey boy, the more I feel like throwing up.
 
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